The No. 6 Nebraska Huskers women’s tennis team (15-1, 4-0 Big Ten) faces off against San Diego (3-6, 0-0 WCC) on Sunday, March 17. The match is on the west coast and is the first outdoor match for the Huskers.

Huskers In The ITA National Rankings

Nebraska’s current rank at 6th is the highest in school history. The ITA Division I women’s tennis rankings were released Tuesday, March 12 and Nebraska climbed to No. 6 in the nation this week.

Mary Weatherholt and partner Patricia Veresova rose in the ITA doubles rankings to No. 7. The two are undefeated (10-0) on the season, including three victories against ranked opponents over then-ranked No. 12 Brynn Boren and Kata Szekely of Tennesse, No. 31 Petra Niedermayerova and Karla Bonacic from Kansas State, and No. 8 Linda Abu Mushrefova and Nida Hamilton of Northwestern.

Nebraska is currently 9-1 against teams ranked in the ITA top 75, with four of them falling outside the top 25. The Huskers have knocked off No. 7 Northwestern, No. 15 Baylor, No. 18 Notre Dame, No. 21 Vanderbilt, No. 23 Tennessee, No. 32 Kansas State, No. 37 Illinois, No. 55 Ohio State, and No. 64 Wyoming. Nebraska’s only loss came to No. 10 Miami at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships on Feb. 8.

The Huskers are the highest ranked team in the Big Ten. Nine teams from the Big Ten are in the top 75 this week, with a total of four in the top 25. The other ranked Big Ten teams are No. 9 Michigan, No. 10 Northwestern, No. 20 Purdue, No. 35 Penn State, No. 40 Ohio State, No. 49 Illinois, No. 58 Iowa, and No. 60 Indiana.

Mary Weatherholt Earns Athlete of the Week Third Time

The Huskers senior from Prairie Village, Kan. won the Big Ten Women’s Tennis Athlete-of-the-Week honors on March 13 following her impressive undefeated record (14-0 singles, 10-0 doubles) including several victories over ranked opponents in both singles and doubles. This marks the third time that Weatherholt has earned the award this season thus far, after claiming the honors the week of Jan. 30 and Feb. 13.
Weatherholt and Weinstein On the Record Hunt

Weatherholt, with her 14 singles victories thus far this season, has set the record for Career Singles wins at 107 previously held by Sandra Noetzel from 1996-2000. She set the record on Friday, Feb. 22 with a victory agaisnt UALR.

Being undefeated on the season with 24-0 combined (14-0 single, 10-0 doubles), Weatherholt only needs two more combined wins on the season to become the winningest women’s tennis player in Huskers history (one win to tie record) currently held by former teammate Madeleine Geibert with 181 total career combined wins for Nebraska (Weatherholt 156 concluding 2012 and 180 including 2012-13).

Stefanie Weinstein has notched 31 combined victories this season which pushes her to No. 3 of Career Combined wins (with 166). She toppled Imke Rivers at the No. 3 spot at 164 and pushed her down to No. 4 on Friday, March 8 with her two victories against Illinois.

Weinstein also has 16 individual doubles wins this season which bumps her to the No. 2 spot on the school’s Career Doubles Individual Wins list at 85. This pushes former No. 2 Imke Reimers 74 to third and former No. 3 Sandra Noetzel’s 71 to fourth, Weinstein’s former mark. Six more individual doubles wins would put her tied for first with former teammate Madeleine Geibert with 91. Seven more victories would set the record and peak her at the top of the list.
Looking Ahead

Nebraska remains in sunny San Diego, Calif. for another match. In San Diego, the Huskers will battle against Oklahoma State on Thursday, March 21 at 5 p.m. Nebraska will then continue on the road to State College, Pa. to play Penn State on Sunday, March 31 at 11 a.m.

San Diego is currently 3-6 overall. The Toreros are coming off of a loss against Texas resulting in a 5-2 score. San Diego currently aren’t ranked and have one player in the singles rankings with No. 87 Laura Claus and no duos ranked in doubles. Last season Illinois went 13-10, 9-2 WCC. San Diego and Nebraska have met once throughout history with the series led by Nebraska 1-0.